this is actually happening
The problem I have with talk of 'the future of advertising' or the future of anything is that very context of the future.
The future gives people an excuse to not do anything right now.
The future is coming later, somewhere down the line.
I love this quote from Pete Townshend, he reputedly said this after stumbling into an early Sex Pistols show at the same time as he was personally grappling with The Who's relevance in the 1977 landscape.
'When you see the Sex Pistols you realise that THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.'
Pete wasn't witnessing any future of rock'n'roll, he was witnessing what was happening right now.
The Who were only just over 10 years old but their chops were developed in a different era.
They still had something to say but would have to adapt to the new environment.
With the immediacy of mobile and social, with the tsunami if data and information, with the expansion of digital technologies into every area of communications we are not witnessing any future of advertising/marketing.
This is actually happening. And it's inevitable.
If advertising still has something to say then it needs to adapt to the new environment.
